Stop motion



Aug. 26, 1969 MQLACHLAN 3,463,209

STOP MOTION Filed Feb. 5, 1968 INVENTOR. ROBERT Mc LACHLAN ATTORNEYSUnited States Patent 3,463,200 STOP MOTION Robert McLachlan, Warwick,R.I., assignor to Leesona Corporation, Warwick, R.I., a corporation ofMassachusetts Filed Feb. 5, 1968, Ser. No. 702,862 Int. Cl. D03d 51/20,51/34 US. Cl. 139336.4 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A mechanismfor stopping a loom when a supply of reserve bobbins has been depletedto a predetermined number. A sensing lever positioned in the path of thebobbins is held in an inactive position when engaged by a bobbin, but inthe absence of a bobbin is free to swing and trip an actuating deviceincluding a trigger mecha nism to cause a blade to engage oscillatingbars on the loom, thereby stopping the loom.

The present invention relates generally to textile machinery and moreparticularly to a mechanism adapted to stop a loom upon a predeterminedoccurrence.

The present invention is intended for use with looms of the typeequipped with a mechanically operated stop mechanism adapted tointerrupt operation of the loom in the event one of the warp yarnsbreaks. Many such looms are equipped with magazines adapted to hold areserve of wound bobbins awaiting insertion into a shuttle by a bobbinchanging mechanism. These magazines can be manually loaded by loomattendants or by use of an automatic bobbin winding machine such as thatdisclosed in the US. Patent No. 2,763,443 issued Sept. 18, 1956.

However, whether the loom magazine is replenished manually orautomatically, it may occur that the desired number of reserve bobbinsis not maintained. To prevent runout of weft yarn with its attendantdifiiculties, it is desirable to stop the loom when the number ofreserve bobbins has diminished to a predetermined number, but at leastwhile a partially wound bobbin remains in the shuttle. To this end, apivoted lever positioned in the path of the reserve bobbins in themagazine is normally held in an inactive position when engaged by abobbin, but in the absence of a bobbin is free to swing, in the courseof which it trips an actuating device including a trigger mechanismcausing a remotely located blade to drop between the teeth ofoscillating drop wire rods on the loom, thereby stopping the loom.

Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a new and improvedmechanism adapted to stop a loom.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improvedactuating mechanism responsive to a predetermined condition for stoppingthe loom. A related object is to provide such a mechanism which isoperable when a supply of reserve bobbins has been depleted to apredetermined number.

Yet another object of the invention is the provision of a mechanicalactuating mechanism responsive to the depletion of reserve bobbins to apredetermined number for operating a warp stop mechanism of a loom. Arelated object is the provision of such a construction wherein a bladeis selectively movable by the actuating mechanism into engagement withreciprocating bars of the warp stop mechanism, and including a lostmotion connection between the blade and the actuating mechanism.

Other and further objects of the invention are obvious or appear in thedescription which follows, taken together with the accompanyingdrawings.

3,463,200 Patented Aug. 26, 1969 In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation view of a portion of a loomembodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged top plan view of parts illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 33 in FIG. 2;and

FIG. 4 is a detail view of parts illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Refer now to the drawings and initially to FIG. 1 illustrating a portionof a loom on a frame F of which is suitably mounted a magazine 10adapted to hold in reserve a plurality of wound bobbins B. Supported ina stacked relationship, the bobbins B feed downwardly under gravity andwhen a bobbin in a shuttle S of the loom has been substantiallyexhausted, a loom hammer 12 is suitably operated to displace thelowermost bobbin from the magazine 10 into the shuttle S, simultaneouslycausing the exhausted bobbin to be discharged from the shuttle.

In FIG. 1, it is seen that one end of a pivotally mounted lever 14 has abent over foot 16 which extends into the path of the reserve bobbins Bsupported in the magazine 10. When a bobbin comes to rest on the foot16, the lever 14 is held in the raised position as seen in solid linesin FIG. 1. However, when the supply of reserve bobbins B becomesdepleted to the extent that one of them no longer rests upon the foot16, the lever 14 swings in a clockwise direction (FIG. 1) under theurging of a suitable weight 18 fixed to the lever adjacent an endopposite from the foot 16 and assumes a position as indicated by dottedlines. As the lever 14 swings, it strikes a tab 20 of a mechanicalactuating device including a trigger mechanism 22 suitably fixed to theframe F and adapted to initiate stoppage of the loom. The foot 16 ispreferably positioned in the lower regions of the magazine 10 so thatits swinging movement is responsive to a substantial depletion of thereserve bobbins B in the magazine. Of course, it will be appreciatedthat even if the foot 16 is so positioned that it is not released untilthe magazine 10 has been entirely depleted, the shuttle S will stillcontain a substantially fresh bobbin, namely the last bobbin to betransferred out of the magazine 10.

As the lever 14 strikes the tab 20, a latch plate 24 integral with thetab 20 is rocked in a counterclockwise direction (FIG. 1) about astationary shaft 26 and against the bias of a torsion spring 28 (FIG. 2)coiled about the shaft 26. The ends of the shaft 26 are suitably fixedto the extremities of a U-shaped bracket 30 which is fastened, as bywelding, to a support bar 32 which, in turn, is suitably mounted to aframe of the loom.

One end of the torsion spring 28 engages one leg 34 of the bracket 30and its opposite end engages the latch plate 24. In this manner, thelatch plate 24 is urged in a clockwise direction so that a shoulder 36in a longitudinally extending edge 38 of the latch plate 24 engages acollar 40 fixed on a rod 42 mounted for axial movement on the bracket30. However, when the latch plate 24 rocks in the counterclockwisedirection to a dotted line position (FIGS. 1 and 3) in response tomovement of the lever 14, the shoulder 36 is disengaged from the collar40 permitting the collar 40 and the rod 42 to move rapidly to the dottedline position (FIG. 2) under the urging of a compression spring 44coiled about the rod between one leg 34 of the bracket 30 and the collar40.

One end of an actuating cable 46 is suitably held by a bracket 48 fixedto an end of the rod 42 and is guided through a cable housing 50* to anarresting mechanism 52. The cable housing 50 extends from the triggermechanism 22 at which it is mounted to the support bar 32 by a clamp 53to the arresting mechanism 52 at which it is mounted to an upstandingsupport plate 54 by a clamp 56. An end of the cable 46 opposite the rod42 is pivotally secured by a suitable wire stop 58 to a swing arm 60fixed to a stub shaft 62 rotatably mounted on and extending laterally ofthe support plate 54 which is suitably fixed as by bolts 63 to alaterally extending brace 64 which comprises part of the frame F of theloom.

In response to movement of the rod 42 to the dotted line position (FIG.2), the cable 46 permits rotation of the swing arm *60 in acounterclockwise direction (FIG. 1) about the stub shaft 62 such that alower edge 66 of a blade member 68 supported on the swing arm 60 is freeto descend into engagement with a warp stop mechanism 70. Of a wellknown construction, the warp stop mechanism 70 includes a plurality ofparallel bars 72 each provided with teeth 74 (FIG. 4) on mutuallyadjacent edges. During normal operation of a loom having a warp stopmechanism 70, such as the X-2 Model Loom manufac tured by DraperCorporation of Hopedale, Mass, each warp yarn supports a blade-likeelement (not shown) which drops across the bars 72 and engages the teeth74 upon yarn breakage. One or more of the bars 72 are reciprocatedrelative to the other bars, but the bars are stopped and operate to stopthe operation of the loom when an element engages the teeth 74. Thepresent invention makes use of this construction already availablewhereby the descent of the blade member 68 in response to operation ofthe trigger mechanism 22 is effective to stop the loom.

In order to avoid possible damage to any of the mechanism described inthe event of a malfunction, a lost motion connection is provided betweenthe blade member 68 and the swing arm 60. More specifically, a pair ofspaced apart pins 78 and 80 fixed to the swing arm 60 and extendingoutwardly from its surface are respectively received in a pair ofarcuate-shaped slots 82 and 84, respectively, in the ends of a pair ofgenerally parallel legs 86 and 88 integral with the blade member 68. Atension spring 90 is received between the legs 86 and 88 and connectsthe blade member 68 to the swing arm 60, to urge terminal surfaces 94and 96 of the slots 82 and 84 into engagement with the respective pins78 and 80. In operation, it may occur that the teeth 74 of the warp stopmechanism 70 are not immediately respective to the lower edge 66 whenthe actuating cable 46 is extended to permit the blade 68 to drop. Forexample, at that instant the teeth 74 of one of the adjacent bars 72 maylaterally coincide with the spaces in another of the bars with theresult that the blade 68 is unable to descend to the extent called forby the cable 46. In this event, the lower edge 66 rests momentarily onupper surfaces of the bars 72 and the swing arm '60 pivots about the pin78 which engages the terminal surface 94 While the pin 80 slides alongthe arcuate slot 84, and the spring 90 is extended. When the teeth 74become receptive to the lower edge 66, the energy stored in the spring90 is released to restore the blade 68 to its original dispositionrelative to the swing arm 60 and to draw the lower edge of the blade 68downwardly between the teeth 74, thereby stopping the loom.

When the magazine has been restocked with a fresh supply of reservebobbins B and it is desirable to restart the loom, a reset handle 98fixed to the collar 40 is employed to move the collar 40 against thespring 44 from the dotted line position to the solid line position (FIG.2) and into engagement by the shoulder 36, the latch plate 24 beingrocked in the clockwise direction (FIG. 3) by the torsion spring 28. Inthe course of this movement, the end of the actuating cable 46 at thearresting mechanism 52 is withdrawn, rotating the swing arm 60 in theclockwise direction (FIG. 1) and moving the blade member 68 to itsinoperative position. Should the lower edge 66 of the blade member 68 beseized between the teeth of the warp stop mechanism 70, a conditionwhich might have occurred when the loom was stopped, the swing arm 60pivots about the pin 80 which engages the terminal surface 96 while thepin 78 slides along the arcuate slot 82 and extends the spring 90. Whenoperation of the loom is resumed, and the warp stop mechanism 70releases the lower edge 66, the energy stored in the spring serves torestore the blade 68 to its orig'mal disposition relative to the swingarm 60 and to draw the lower edge 66 upward and away from the teeth 74of the warp stop mechanism 70 in preparation for future actuation.

Although the invention has been disclosed according to a preferred formof construction, it is to be understood that various modifications maybe made therein without departing from the spirit or scope of theinvention since the scope of the invention is determined solely by thelimitations appearing in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a loom having a mechanical stop motion mechanism including aplurality of bars which reciprocate relative to one another and areadapted to stop the loom when the relative reciprocation is stopped anda bobbin changing mechanism including a magazine for holding a supply ofreserve bobbins, the improvement comprising bobbin sensing meansoperable for detecting the absence of a bobbin at a predeterminedposition in said magazine, arresting means including a pivotally mountedswing arm, a blade, lost motion means supporting said blade on said armand including a pair of spaced apart pins mounted on said arm and saidblade having spaced apart slots slidingly receiving said pins, andresilient means biasing said pins toward ends of said slots, said bladebeing pivotable about said pins relative to said swing arm between afirst position for releasing the bars and a second position for engagingthe bars to stop said relative reciprocation, and actuating meansincluding a trigger mechanism responsive to operation of said sensingmeans for moving said arresting means to said second position to stopsaid relative reciprocation.

2. In a loom having a mechanical stop motion mechanism including aplurality of bars which reciprocate relative to one another and areadapted to stop the loom when the relative reciprocation is stopped anda bobbin changing mechanism including a magazine for holding a supply ofreserve bobbins, the improvement comprising bobbin sensing meansoperable for detecting the absence of a bobbin at a predeterminedposition in said magazine, arresting means movable between a firstposition for releasing said bars and a second position for engaging saidbars to stop the relative reciprocation of the bars, and actuating meansresponsive to operation of said sensing means for moving said arrestingmeans to stop said relative reciprocation, said actuating meansincluding a trigger mechanism having a rod movable axially between firstand second positions, resilient means biasing said rod toward saidsecond position, a collar on said rod, a pivotally mounted latch plateincluding a shoulder relcasably engageable with said collar to hold saidrod in said first position, resilient means biasing said shoulder intoposition for engagement by said collar, and means on said latch plateengageable by said sensing means in the absence of a bobbin forreleasing said shoulder from engagement with said collar.

3. In a loom having a mechanical stop motion mechanism including aplurality of bars which reciprocate relative to one another and areadapted to stop the loom when the relative reciprocation is stopped anda bobbin changing mechanism including a magazine for holding a supply ofreserve bobbins, the improvement comprising bobbin sensing meansoperable for detecting the absence of a bobbin at a predeterminedposition in said magazine, arresting means including a pivotallymounted-swing arm, a blade supported on said swing arm and movablebetween a raised position for releasing the bars and a depressedposition for engaging the bars to stop said relative reciprocation, apair of spaced apart pins fixed to said swing arm, said blade havingspaced apart slots slidingly receiving said pins, said slots includingterminal end surfaces, and resilient means biasing said pins toward saidterminal surfaces, said blade being pivotable about said pins relativeto said swing arm, and actuating means responsive to operation of saidsensing means for moving said arresting means to stop said relativereciprocation, said actuating means including a trigger mechanism havinga rod movable axially between first and second positions, resilientmeans biasing said rod toward said second position, a collar on saidrod, a pivotally mounted latch plate including a shoulder releasablyengageable with said collar to hold said rod in said first position,resiiient means biasing said shoulder into position for engagement bysaid collar, means on said latch plate engageable by said sensing meansin the absence of a bobbin for releasing said shoulder from engagementwith said collar, and means including a cable connecting said swing armand said rod to maintain said blade spaced from the bars when said rodis in said first position and to permit said blade to engage the barswhen said rod is in said second position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS JAMES KEE CHI, Primary ExaminerUS. Cl. X.R.

